Month: May 2012

Brewing a beer for a special occasion or life event is always fun. When my daughter was born last year I wanted to brew something different and something that would not only keep until she turns 21 but hopefully get better. I decided to brew an Old Ale but of course because I am me I needed to go “old school” and make sure it had a brettanomyces character in it. I lucked out too! Wyeast was going to release their Old Ale blend the following month. I didn’t get a chance to use that blend when it was released in 2009 but I had heard some very good things about it.

I wanted to have a traditional base to this beer, but I also wanted something a bit bigger than the 1.090 style limit OG and something drier the 1.015 FG style limit (I detest sweetness in beers). So the recipe I came up with ended up as a Specialty beer…more of a hybrid Old Ale.Continue reading “Lil’ Nugget Ale with Brett”

Now for a little extra helping of beer news of the weird… PGA
Not actual beer drinking pig in story, according to then ghost of Rod Serling. Still courtesy mlkshk.com

Written by Ryab Bailey for yahoo

Paul the Octopus wowed us with his soothsaying skills during World Cup 2010, but he has since moved on to the exploitative aquarium in the sky. Since his passing, man has longed for a new animal-based method of predicting football results. The Champions League Llama may have a 100% record by calling Chelsea’s unlikely victory over Bayern Munich, but Poland and Ukraine are each boasting their own zoo creatures to help gamblers who don’t want to rely on statistics and facts when making game predictions.

Ukraine will be acquiring the services of a two-year-old pig, who — much like Wayne Rooney — loves drinking beer and eating fries in his down time. Instead of ending up as a key component of the Ukrainian national dish of sliced hog fat, the imaginatively-named ‘Psychic Pig’ will be at the heart of the action throughout the tournament, says Mercury News:

Profiled by Ken Carman for professorgoodales.net

Once again, something unique from Saranac, and more balanced than the last I profiled: White IPA. Most Nut Browns are ales. Note: my usual readers will know I am no fan of lagers, but the usual sulfur/acidic-ness seems softer here, way in the background. There’s a very nice caramel, nutty, texture to the malt profile, the hops a soft bitter only. This could qualify as a Northern Brown, only a bit more gentle and minus the usual fruity ale yeast notes.

Head: plentiful and pillow. Clings to glass and lingers. Great clarity. SRM about a 11 or 12.

Mouthfeel: on the low side, medium body with plenty of melanoidins floating around.

You may remember Ken Carman’s two columns here @PGA: one on their brewer, and one on the brewpub, Bandwagon. Here’s more on their brewer and this Ithaca brewpub. In picture posted below Lars Mudrak is standing to the left.- PGA

Ithaca — The best craft beer in all of New York State is being brewed right here in Ithaca.
Bandwagon Brewpub earned that distinction from judges at the 2012 TAP New York Craft Beer & Fine Food Festival, who awarded the Cayuga Street restaurant and craft brewer with the gold medal for Best Individual Craft Beer in New York State. Judges chose Bandwagon’s High Step Weizenbock out of more than 200 individual brews from more than 50 New York State brewers at the April 29 festival. This year’s festival featured the most competitors in the event’s 15-year history.

For Bandwagon, submitting the winter seasonal beer had been planned as a last hurrah for the Weizenbock, a strong, dark wheat beer among the favorites of brewer Lars Mudrak. Now the beer, which was to be transitioned out to make way for summer beers, will have a permanent spot on tap at the brewery. A new batch is being brewed to be ready for consumption at Bandwagon by Monday.

“People have been asking about it a lot,” Mudrak said. “I feel it’s kind of Ithaca’s, too; it’s not just Bandwagon’s. It’s all our customers’. They drank my mistakes along the way so they should enjoy in my successes as well.”

The beer making talents displayed by Mudrak are distinctly Ithacan in origin. The 23-year-old began covertly experimenting with brewers in his parents’ Coddington Road home at the age of 15. “I think my record was 25 gallons of beer brewing in my closet at once without my parents knowing,” he said.Continue reading “Bandwagon Brewpub: Ithaca”